AK canning jar

I’m walking 60 miles in the Breast Cancer 3-day!  Will you help me reach my goal?

 

Hi, all…  I hope you all had a great weekend.  My mommy’s day weekend started on Friday when my littlest one came running off of the bus with her card and gift for me:  coupons for chores and hugs.  So sweet!  My son helped put up a fence with my dad for my garden (those deer don’t have a chance this year – thanks, guys!), the girl’s got flowers in their favorite colors (purple, pink and lime green) with daddy’s help and made cards.  Lot’s of snuggling and hugs…  Yeah, a very good weekend!

 

I also was feeling good enough to harvest some of our rhubarb which was out of control, about 20 cups total.  I made 4 pints of Sunshine Rhubarb Juice Concentrate (similar to this recipe), and a double recipe (16 half pints) of Spring Conserve (with rhubarb, pineapple, frozen strawberries and pecans) with my bounty, both recipes from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving. Yum.  I also did my first attempt at altering my grandma’s strawberry rhubarb custard pie to gluten and dairy free for my mom for mother’s day.  And, eh… it was okay.  I discovered that my grandma’s recipe didn’t actually have strawberries in it as you would think from the recipe title, but strawberry flavored jello.  Weird.  Sorry, grandma, gotta change that up!  I need to work on the proportions a bit more to get the pie just the way I remember it, but it was an okay first attempt.  The scary thing is that I will probably be able to pick more rhubarb today or tomorrow…  The stuff grows like crazy.  I will be freezing quite a bit of it, making more of the juice concentrate, Victorian Barbeque Sauce (from the Ball book but close to this one), and some fruit leathers.

 

This week I need to get more seeds into the garden and finish weeding and prepping the beds for the seedlings (tomatoes, peppers, etc) that will be going into the garden in a couple of weeks.  I love the beginning of the season with the garden so full of possibilities, but not yet out of control!  I think I will be able to start harvesting my salads this next week.  I am very excited!

 

Head over to Laura’s for Menu Plan Monday and see what is on everyone else’s plate this week.  The Gluten Free Menu Swap is being hosted this week by The Lilac Kitchen.  She has picked potatoes as the theme ingredient this week.  We love our potatoes around here!  I am very sure my kids all got the “deep fried potato gene” from me, but we also love them oven roasted with olive oil and rosemary, mashed, fried (fried potatoes and onions are the only way I made it though all my pregnancies – there is no accounting for cravings!), and of course in our gluten free bread baking.  I am still working on a gluten free “potato bread” to replicate one my husband really liked back in our gluten filled past.  That would be lovely…

 

Come back on Friday for Gluten Free-zer Friday with a freezer recipe to share.  Let’s help each other get some gluten free freezer meals into the freezer so we are ready for the lazy days of summer!

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Gluten Free Menu Swap Monday

Baseball practices will probably be added…

Monday:  Bake gf French bread and banana muffins/orchestra day/dance/track/first baseball game of season

  Black Bean Patties, Apple Slaw and Guac

 

Tuesday:  piano lessons/first soccer practice

 Molasses Drumsticks, Potato Salad and mixed greens

 

Wednesday:  Mom volunteer in school library

  Spinach Hamburgers with Cucumber Sauce and stir-fried zucchini

 

Thursday:  Mom help in kindergarten/Junior Girl Scouts/soccer practice??- will probably skip this due to girl scout meeting overlap

 

Chicken Satay Skewers and Sesame Snow Peas

 

Friday:  Mom Bible Study (last one for summer)

 Fish and Rice Noodle Salad (the fish will depend on what is on sale…) and Green Beans with tomatoes

 

 

Also this week:  prep for upcoming class, work on garden, harvest/preserve rhubarb as needed, get back into walking after being a sicky last week, make kimchee, finish GFCF cake packet, work 15 hours typing data entry (at least – 20 would be better, but doubt I can do that much), and work on getting clothes that are too small out of the girl’s closets – maybe…  We will see how much of that gets done, but it’s good to have a goal!

 

Countdown to the 3-day Walk: 15 Weeks

Your Training Schedule for This Week:

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Monday Rest
Tuesday 3 miles Easy walking
Wednesday 15 minutes Moderate cross-training
Thursday 5 miles Moderate walking
Friday 30 minutes Easy cross-training
Saturday 10 miles Easy walking
Sunday 6 miles Easy walking

I’m walking 60 miles in the Breast Cancer 3-day!  Will you help me reach my goal?